this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2023
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Fuck Cars

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Why North America zoning and building codes mean developers can't build nice family friendly "missing middle" housing/apartments (www.youtube.com)
submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by NarrativeBear@lemmy.world to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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We need to make our cities and towns more family friendly. This is called the "missing middle" in housing, and it's why in north america all we see are either large condo towers or single family homes, which also drives our urban sprawl problems. Which exacerbate out dependency on cars.

Almost all new large towers/buildings in north america prioritize bachelor's units 1 and 2 bedroom units. Trying to find a well priced 3 or 4 bedroom in a "lively" downtown center, close to transit and work, with plenty of schooling in the area is almost impossible. It's also a factor in why cities became so empty during the pandemic, ie. Not to many families living permanently in cities.

Here's a good article that also talks about the same issue with some different apparment layouts, and why developers don't provide adequate family units.

https://www.centerforbuilding.org/blog/we-we-cant-build-family-sized-apartments-in-north-america

This together with zoning requirements in north america is pushing most cities and developers to only cater towards large towers or single family housing.

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[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 6 points 11 months ago

I’m not buying the idea of single staircase being the problem, and I’ll keep preferring to have a second means of egress, thank you. Although I have to admit if Canada really requires it about 2 stories, that may be excessive. My town has a lot of three deckers, which are really built like normal houses and that should be fine. But once you get to many” units, not so much.

Similarly with the other discussion on building materials: I can see something like a three decker being built to the same standards as any other house but once you get to “many” units, materials the are more sound, water, fire proof become more important.

I agree with the need for higher density housing, but too many proposals amount to cheapness that will impact the lives and safety of the tenants. It’s really not an acceptable tradeoff